Angela Merkel flew into Greece on Friday to champion the country's apparent turnaround from eurozone basket case to paragon of austerity, but Greeks remain bitterly divided over the impact of the policies she has foisted on their country.

Officially it was all smiles. Under azure blue skies Greece looked good. It has just borrowed successfully from foreign investors for the first time in four years. And the economics are certainly more encouraging than they were 18 months ago when the German chancellor last dared venture this far south.

This was the story she wanted to focus on as she met Greek entrepreneurs and the man who did much to implement her vision of economic rigour, which Greece had to adopt to stop the eurozone falling apart: prime minister Antonis Samaras. "I firmly believe that after a very, very tough phase, this country harbours boundless possibilities still to be exploited," Merkel told the businessmen.

It was all a far cry from October 2012, when riot police clashed with protesters who compared her to Hitler. This time there were no "Get out Merkel" signs or demonstrators dressed in Nazi garb, or thousands denouncing the "mother of austerity" because Greece's fragile governing coalition, in its determination to welcome the leader, banned public gatherings – at least in Syntagma square – from taking place.

An attempt by trade unionists, leftists and state sector workers to demonstrate against policies that have ruined much of the country's middle class was kept in check by a security cordon around the capital. During her seven-hour stay – a visit that took place against the background of a bomb attack outside the Bank of Greece – 5,000 heavily armed police officers kept watch over the city centre.

That Athens is no longer hostile territory for Merkel cannot be denied – even if polls show the vast majority of Greeks still have a "negative view" of her.

Under the stewardship of Samaras, the conservative-dominated government has delivered on the fiscal front, reining in budgets, achieving a primary surplus few would have foreseen and masterminding Thursday's successful return to bond markets after four years of being forced to depend on more than €240bn in bailout funds to keep the country afloat.

"Capitalism is all about borrowing so psychologically and symbolically our return to markets has been hugely important," said Theodore Pelagidis, professor of economics at Pireaus University. "But after seven years of recessionary austerity measures Greece has experienced the depression of the century," he told the Guardian. "The government wants people to look forward, to forget the harsh measures it has been forced to implement, but in reality the recovery is going to take years because we now have to rebuild the economy from scratch."

With the country having seen more than a quarter of its output lost to the crisis, unemployment at a record 26.7% and poverty levels rising inexorably, political opponents accused Merkel of dancing on the ruins of Greece. The radical left main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, whom Merkel did not meet, denounced the visit as a stunt aimed purely at shoring up "her ally Samaras" before crucial European parliament elections next month. The German chancellor, he said, would never see the reality of Greece's rescue when she refused to visit hospitals, schools and other public bodies ravaged by relentless cost-cutting at the behest of Berlin.

"Soon she will be faced with a government that will negotiate properly," pledged the leftist, insisting that with Greece's monumental debt, Athens' return to markets had been little more than a public relations exercise to win public support before the May vote.

"It is manifestly clear that not only are we not out of the crisis but we remain enclosed in the trap of debt," he told supporters on the campaign trail. Tsipras's vehemently anti-austerity Syriza party is enjoying a steady though marginal lead, over both parties in the governing coalition.

Before Merkel boarded her plane for Berlin, she requested that she be taken to a traditional Greek taverna beneath the Acropolis. A late afternoon bout of rain stopped as she got there. Like everything about her flying visit the re-emerging sun was well timed in a country where so much reality had been hidden from her eyes.